More Articles

The Dispatch E-Edition

All current subscribers have full access to Digital D, which includes the E-Edition and
unlimited premium content on Dispatch.com, BuckeyeXtra.com, BlueJacketsXtra.com and
DispatchPolitics.com.
Subscribe
today!

Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoRick Bowmer | Associated PressStaples, which is generating almost half of its sales online these days, says the plan to close stores will save the company $500 million by the end of next year.

Staples will shut down more than 10 percent of its stores in North America by the end of next
year, the second major chain to announce the mass closing of stores this week and the latest
evidence of a retail landscape that is being altered drastically by the way Americans shop.

The nation’s largest office-supply company said yesterday that nearly half of its sales are
generated online, and it is working to cut costs and become more efficient. It aims to close up to
225 North American stores as part of a plan to save about $500 million by the end of 2015.

It had already closed dozens of stores in the past year.

Staples would not elaborate on the number of jobs that are being cut, nor the locations of
stores that will close. There are 11 stores in the Columbus area, according to the company’s
website.

The recession heavily damaged chains like Staples, which face growing competition online as well
as from discount stores. But the same thing is happening across the retail sector.

Staples has 1,846 stores in North America and Canada, the vast majority in the United
States.

Chairman and CEO Ron Sargent said yesterday that his company isn’t giving up on brick-and-mortar
stores, believing that customers still want the convenience and service that they can get
there.

“That said, stores have to earn the right to stay open,” Sargent said.

RadioShack announced plans this week to close up to 1,100 stores, about a fifth of its U.S.
locations.

Staples, based in Framingham, Mass., reported adjusted earnings of $1.16 per share yesterday for
2013, short of the $1.21 to $1.25 per share it said that it expected as recently as November.

In the fourth quarter, earnings nearly tripled, but that is compared to a period when it booked
$176.6 million in restructuring charges as it closed stores.

Staples said it earned $212.4 million, or

33 cents per share, in the quarter that ended on Feb. 1. Revenue slumped nearly 11 percent
to